The recession has hit home to me now.
It wasn’t enough that my favorite Starbucks Coffee Shop closed. I expected that. It was down in Colleyville, Texas … and there were four Starbucks within a mile of it (most of them located in grocery stores). 
I always visited it when I was in the area, because I fondly think of it as “mine.” It’s the one that first hooked me on a Quad-Venti-Mocha-With-Skim-Add-Whip-Add-Chocolate. One taste and I was addicted to designer coffee for life.
I didn’t mourn when I discovered it was closed — the sign was gone, and the windows papered over. I have a new supplier now so it didn’t matter so much, although don’t y’all think it’s a bit sad that such a “tony” area now only has four Starbucks left? Where will the soccer moms go to talk trash about the coaches?
No, that recession hit me smack dab between the eyes when I discovered that our local Piggly Wiggly ® stores were closing their doors. Do y’all know Piggly Wiggly? It is a chain of stores that stretches across the south. If you live north of the Mason-Dixon line you might have never seen one, except on a vacation when you detoured off of the highway. When you saw that pig on the logo and that ridiculous name, you probably rolled your eyes and thought, “Yep. Only in the South.” But, you didn’t forget the name of the store, did you?
You think we are a bunch of crackers, don’t you … but, wait just a doggone minute!
According to their website (and, it could be true, or it could be a case of “embroidering the facts”), Piggly Wiggly was a groundbreaking institution. Why, before Clarence Saunders thought up this business model in 1916, when you went to the store you told the clerks what you wanted and they gathered it up for you. Piggly Wiggly was the first store to:
- …provide checkout stands.
- …price mark every item in the store.
- …feature a full line of nationally advertised brands.
- …use refrigerated cases to keep produce fresher longer.
- …put employees in uniforms for cleaner, more sanitary food handling.
- …franchise independent grocers to operate under the self-service method of food merchandising.
- …and a whole buncha other stuff!
If it weren’t for Piggly Wiggly, we’d still be shopping in a General Store!
When I moved to Denton, I was so proud that there were two Piggly Wiggly stores. I remember a Piggly Wiggly in Oak Cliff from when I was a kid. My Grandaddy used to shop for groceries there, and we walked to the store, and pushed our little two-wheeled shopping cart home with the goodies. It was a “neighborhood store.”
Now, it’s true that the Piggly Wigglys here in Denton were not in my neighborhood — they were in older areas of town, and they were not at all convenient to me. But, I liked the fact that they were there. I liked that some of the city’s older residents were able to walk to the grocery store just like my Grandaddy did.
I also liked the fact that those grocery stores survived when chains like Albertson’s and Kroger came into town and built out on the highways. Piggly Wiggly even survived The Wal Mart store and the Super Target. But, it couldn’t survive this recession. Piggly Wiggly just couldn’t bring home the bacon, so to speak.
I hate to see them go. I don’t like the fact that the buildings will probably remain empty, or be torn down.
Next thing you know, they will take away our Howdy Doody Store!
Now, wouldn’t that be a crying shame!
Other posts you might enjoy:
- I Want To Be Queen
- Mahalo for Sweet Hawaiian Mini Burgers
- Poor Barbie
- Looking For The Blues
- Denton as a Destination??
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{ 6 comments }
Why does Howdy Doody look like an axe murderer version of Charlie Chaplin on that sign?
My only experience with the Piggly-Wiggly is hearing about it in Driving Miss Daisy. Sorry you’re losing an institution. It’s especially hard when it’s an inner city store that closes, many people in those neighborhoods don’t have a lot of other options.
.-= Robin´s last blog ..Ball Pit =-.
We had a Piggly Wiggly in Northern Cali when I was 10. But what exactly is a Howdy Doody??
.-= Thorne´s last blog ..The Emperor =-.
I’ve never seen a “Howdy Doody” store, but I do know about Piggly Wiggly! There isn’t one right by me, but last year I discovered there is one right at the IL/WI border (I think it’s in WI) near where my daughter goes snowboarding. I was surprised to see it because I really thought they were only in the south, but I guess not!! Several Starbucks have closed around here, too, but they still seem to be everywhere. IW as just reading an AOL tidbit yesterday about businesses that are going to be closing some of their locations. Sad. I get attached to these places, too.
.-= Jessica The Rock Chick´s last blog ..Eat Scrumptious =-.
The thing that gets me about all of this (well, except the Starbucks, though I’m sorry for your loss) is that it is happening everywhere. And it’s not really only about the recession. It’s about the sometimes-slow sometimes-fast takeover of every single corner and every downtown in the United States, so that no matter where you go, the same stores are there, in the same kind of buildings. The era of neighborhood character and grandpas walking to the store (ours was Laurel Super) are, in a lot of places, long gone, and in everywhere else, on their way out.
If there is ever any doubt whether the United States is no longer an of-the-people country but an of-the-corporate-behemoths country, this is it. All you have to do is look around, or travel a bit.
I hate it.
.-= Robin´s last blog ..Kindred Spirits =-.
I remember Piggly Wiggly in Wes Virginny when we used to visit my grandmother there. You know what I remember? The incredibly gooey brownies. Nuff said.
I believe it was one of “your” states (OK. or TX.) that us Yankees were driving through highspeed , cause that’s how we drive, when we happened upon a “Pig Out Palace”. We were tired! There was no place else to eat for miles….sheeesh, we had to.
Now, gal I don’t think I mentioned the word “Yankee,” because I think the Civil War is over
And, I wouldn’t know about the Pig Out Palace, so it must have been in that other state. You must have been driving fast, or you would have seen the Dairy Queen. There is one in every darned town around here. I’m not recommending it, if you want to live to a ripe old age (it’s cholesterol on a bun) but if you are hungry, and if you don’t stop there often, it will do.
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